Whenever we take on a new client we follow fairly usual steps – finding out what the client and their business are all about, imagining the sorts of styles and approach that fits well with them, then looking again at all such with a view to what they are looking to do over the next span of time, what they are introducing product or service wise, what they are putting on offer. Key to so much is the mindset of those you are trying to reach. For example there are styles of lightish humour that work well with some groups of people…

Des Bate, the greatest thing since sliced bread, well not really, but he does try hard, he does walk on water though, but only when it is 30 below …

Yes, it’s daft but there is either a faint smile or something of a groan hopefully accompanied by a ‘go on then, what are you going to say next…’ There is a reason why the christmas cracker has its appeal…

Similarly the style of design, colour and typography works differently with different groups of people. There is a psychology to it all. Sit and think well before you take the plunge … we are here to help. Here are a few more things to help you in your process and a few resources to boot –

The colour you use adds not only emotion but points to other basic areas of meaning. It is part of the message. It has its own psychology.

There is a real difference in the effects that, for example, a bright, full, basic colour will have upon someone looking at your content in comparison with that provoked by a softer, gentler, perhaps pastel shade will generate. There is a difference between the strident, blaring simplicity of one and the more subdued suggestions of the other. This can and should be echoed in the accompanying text. Are you shouting a statement or telling a story perhaps with a little decoration? Are you making a plain statement or suggesting a scene, a background, gesturing towards a series of feelings.

Similarly your choice of illustration – accompanied by its own palette and the emotions it brings along – makes a statement, it aids in telling the story, it also suggests what all of your content should be bringing to the table. You are looking to have particular groups, segments of the viewing public relate to your content in an effectively positive way. One should reinforce the other and so on – colour, image, text, channel, timing.

At the end of one year and the start of another there are always predictions made about what is likely to happen, what will be popular, what will become successful in the coming year. Here is a round up of various suggestions in a number of fields.

With 2017 just a few days away, companies have begun charting their marketing plans. Content continues to be crucial but isn’t about who can produce the highest volumes anymore, it is about who can adapt to the diversity of multiple platforms and engage their audience across them.The compet

New year, new design trends. One of the great things about web design is that it is constantly evolving. You can find trends or even just hints of things to come almost by chance as new ideas seem to populate all at once. This month’s examples are a lot of fun with websites using space in interesting ways, new online shopping experiences and the return of pastel color palettes. Here’s what’s trending in design this month: 1) Exaggerated use of space The right amount of space can make or break a design. Whether it is white, a background color or surrounds text or images, “empty” space in a design can speak volumes. Exaggerated use of space is one of those design trends that can be a lot of fun, and when used well it can be rather effective in helping users know just how to look at or use a website or app. Open space is an extension of minimal styles that have been popular for some time, but with one major exception: Rather than a symmetrical outline with space all around, these designs

When it comes to the marketing for your business, your product, serivce, event you can take a thoroughly direct approach – simply state what is what and be damned! Fire those cannons and await a return. Then again you can also take a gentler approach. Setting a scene, providing a background, allowing people to relax into the message you gradually elaborate. In a similar way, your approach can be that big business, boardroom aired and generated, put together still with the feel of the glass windows of the office giving a wide view of the city skyline. A major tagline of F4mmedia is – the cornershop of content creation – there is an approach that has all of that convenience, it has the friendly tones of the local shopkeeper who knows you well, it is a little more informal. It may not have the grand packaging of the big business etc. but it is more comfortable and looks to make it easier to acquire.

Content Marketing Institute’s latest research reveals what the most committed UK marketers do differently, but lessons work for marketers worldwide.

Giving your marketing, your branding structure is certainly important. It allows you not only to take aim, rather than just throwing buckshot wildly into the air and seeing what you might hit, if you might hit something. It gives you the chance to tailor your efforts so that you are not wasting time, giving your efforts direction. It allows you to take stock of the whole terrain and your ROI. That structure also tends to mean that you are not rushing what you are doing, giving your efforts chance to take hold, to make themselves noticed in the whole terrain in which you operate.

Predictions for the biggest new things in design, and DIY examples to stay ahead of the the trends.